Swing
by hotsodagirl
Summary: Troy met most of his basketball friends in kindergarten, but what ever happened to that little blonde girl and the promise he made her? Troypay


Swing

by hotsodagirl

**Summary**: Troy met most of his basketball friends in kindergarten, but what ever happened to that little blonde girl and the promise he made her?

**Genre**: General, I really couldn't think of where else to put it.

**Rating**: K

**Sodagirl Says**: Okay, well this is just an idea I came up with one day and I thought I'd try it out. There's not any major romance here, but you could consider it a Troypay because that's basically what it is. So please read and review and tell me what you think, okay? 3 Oh, and if you haven't read my other story, _Flame of my Heart_, you should because according to the reviewers, it's really good! And if you have read it, thank you! Anyways, on to the story!

"Do you remember in kindergarten how you'd meet a kid and know nothing about them, then ten seconds later you were playing like you were best friends, because you didn't have to be anything but yourself?"

"Yeah," Troy said, staring into Gabriella's eyes. At the time, he didn't think too much about it. But later on that night, as his mind wandered while trying to find sleep, he remembered her question. There was something about that it that got him thinking. Kindergarten... he had met most of his closest friends that year. Chad, Jason, and Zeke had been seated at the same table as him on the first day of school. Outside at recess, they played kickball and had quickly become buddies for the rest of their school careers. But that wasn't the entire story. There was more to kindergarten than that. The problem was that although he knew it, he couldn't remember the whole thing. He lied on his bed, racking his brain for that one detail that was missing. He couldn't place it, but there was _something_, a nagging voice in the back of his head that was trying to remind him of another time, another place, another person. The scene came to him slowly, beginning as only a hazy outline. He recalled a girl, and something told him she was important. There was a certain significance to the little blonde girl. _'That's right, she had blonde hair, and her eyes were... brown? Yes, they were brown!'_ His recollection of this girl stirred his memories, and he realized he had been wrong about his friends on the basketball team.

_'I didn't meet the guys on the first day of school. I met them on the second day. On the first day, I made one friend. The little blonde girl. And her name was...'_

Eleven years ago

A five-year-old brown haired boy walked slowly into the kindergarten room, clutching his mother's hand tightly as she led him into the new and mysterious location. His blue eyes quickly scanned the area as they entered. About fifteen or twenty children had already arrived, most of whom were crying or clinging to one of their parents. The boy's eyes were dry, but he did feel twinges of apprehension. Throughout the weeks leading up to this day, his parents had assured him again and again that kindergarten would be fun. However, a room full of bawling kids was hardly his idea of fun. Besides, he wasn't fond of adjusting to new things, especially not the perky woman who was quickly approaching.

"Well hello there! I am the kindergarten teacher. My name is Mrs. Hill!" the woman exclaimed, shaking the mother's hand. With a Barbie doll smile plastered on her face, she kneeled down so she was eye-level with the small boy. "And who do we have here?"

"Troy Bolton," he answered quietly.

"It's very nice to meet you, Mr. Bolton. Would you mind sitting over there?" Mrs. Hill pointed at a small table that could seat four children. Three of the seats were already occupied as Troy walked in the direction of the woman's finger position. On one side of the table sat a skinny girl with straight brown hair and glasses. She sobbed into her mother's shoulder, wrinkling her flower print dress as she gripped the older woman's arm. Next to her was a chubby red haired boy, almost mimicking the other girl's actions with his own mother. Across from him was an empty seat, where Troy assumed he was to sit. Then there was the final chair.

In that chair sat the one girl that stood out to him the most out of any child in the whole room. For starters, she was the only one excluding himself that wasn't crying her eyes out. In fact, she was very calm and collected as she sat with a perfect posture while coloring in the piece of paper in front of her. The only thing more dazzling than her composure was her appearance. Her hair was a golden blonde color; the top layer was pulled back into a white ribbon whereas the bottom tumbled gracefully over her shoulders. The entirety of it was curled to perfection with the exception of her bangs, which fell just above her bright brown eyes. The dress she wore was made of a light pink fabric, covered by a thin sheer material. The top was fitting to her petite frame, but stopped at her waist where a white sash was tied. Bellow that, the dress became puffy, falling down to her ankles where her white dress shoes poked out from beneath the skirt. Troy was a bit intimidated by this astounding girl, who looked like she belonged more in a beauty pageant than a classroom, but the only seat was next to hers and the teacher had said to sit at _that_ table. He sighed nervously and slid into the chair, allowing his backpack to fall to the ground. He glanced around the room, unsure of what to do since most of the kids were crying. The only example he had to follow from was the beauty pageant girl, and he wasn't quite ready to talk to her just yet. However, ready or not, he was soon forced to make contact with her when she looked directly at him and held out a piece of paper.

"Here," she said, waving the sheet in front of his face until he took it and examined it. It was a copied picture of a squirrel holding a nut next to a tree, with a smiling sun in the sky. A quick peek at the center of the table told him this same printing was on every paper on every table in the room. "Mrs. Hill told me to color until all the other kids stop crying. I think you're supposed to do the same," she explained, having noticed his earlier confusion.

"Okay, thanks." He grabbed a package of crayons from the side of the table and searched for a red crayon. As he did this, he remembered his father's advice from the night before. _"Make friends. Some of your most valuable friendships will be made in kindergarten."_ He paused, taking a quick glance at the girl beside him before continuing on his search. He wondered if there was something special about this girl. Would she be one of his most valuable friendships? He figured he had more of a chance of befriending her than any of the other teary eyed children. As he contemplated talking to the girl, he found his red crayon and set it on the table. He turned his head to look at the girl, watching her for longer than a mere glance this time around. What did he have to lose? He stuck out his right hand, grinning. "I'm Troy Bolton."

The girl smiled and took his hand, shaking it politely. "Sharpay. Sharpay Evans." She returned to her artwork and asked, "So where's your mom?"

"She's over there talking to the teacher," he replied, picking up his red crayon once again and pressed it to the paper as he began coloring the leaves on the tree. "Where's yours?"

Sharpay looked up for a moment and pointed to a woman across the room. A boy with light blonde hair clung to her, wailing louder than any of the other children as she patted his back and tried to comfort him while at the same time unsuccessfully attempting to pry him away from her. Looking back to Troy, the blonde girl giggled. "And that's my twin brother, Ryan. He didn't really want to come."

"Did you?"

She thought a moment before responding. "Yeah, I did. But at the same time, I was scared."

"Me too."

The two returned to their papers. As Troy was finishing up his tree, he bore down on the crayon a little too hard, causing it to snap in half as it broke from the pressure. He frowned. "Oops..."

"Hm?" She turned her head in question, wondering what he had done.

"I broke my red crayon," he admitted unhappily. "And that's my favorite color."

She giggled and held out the crayon she was holding. It was the same shade, still sharpened perfectly from her use of light coloring. "You can use mine. Red's my favorite color, too."

"Wow, thanks!" he said excitedly. Before completing the one part of his picture, he reached down into his bag and produced a bag of Skittles. "Do you want some?" he asked his newfound friend. She beamed.

"Yeah! I love Skittles!"

"Me too!"

By the time recess rolled around an hour later, the parents had left, Mrs. Evans had taken Ryan home for the rest of the day, the rest of the kids were calm, and Troy and Sharpay had become best friends. At this time, they sat next time each other on the swings, rocking slowly back and forth. Troy easily picked up speed, rising further into the air with each pump of his legs. Sharpay watched in admiration.

"Wow, you can go so far up! I wish I could swing that high." She looked down at her feet dejectedly, not observing as her friend leaped from his swing. She only noticed him when he ran behind her and firmly grasped the chains. "What are you doing, Troy?"

He grinned at her. "I'm going to make your wish come true." He pulled back on the swing, and then pushed forward as hard as he could. When she came back, he pushed the swing again. Again and again, until she was soaring through the air. She squealed in delight, blonde curls flying around her face as gravity pulled her backwards, up into the air, then forwards again. Eventually, she let herself slow to a stop and stepped onto the rocky ground. She turned to Troy, a huge smile on her face.

"Thank you so much! That was the most fun I've ever had."

"No problem. I promise we'll do it again sometime, okay?" She nodded enthusiastically in reply. Soon they heard Mrs. Hill, calling for the students to come back inside. The rest of the day was spent doing various small projects. Troy and Sharpay stuck together like glue the entire time, talking energetically to each other as they worked. There is an old saying that says, "Time flies when you're having fun", and sadly this saying applied to their situation. Before they knew it, the day was over and they were led outside along with the other children to wait for their parents. The two stood together, leaning against the warm brick wall.

"I had a great time today." Sharpay pronounced, fingering a blonde lock of hair that had somehow fallen loose. She smiled coyly, receiving a boyish grin from her friend in return.

"I did too. You're an amazing girl, Sharpay."

She giggled. "Thanks. You're a great boy, Troy. You're my best friend!"

"You're my best friend, too." He took her hand and she felt a blush cross her face, turning her cheeks a rosy pink. She was about to speak when she heard her mother's voice.

"Sharpay, come along darling!" The blonde girl looked over, seeing the woman waving her over while talking to Mrs. Hill. She sighed deeply and looked back at Troy.

"I guess I have to go now. But thanks again for everything! So... I'll see you tomorrow?" she half said, half asked.

"Yeah, tomorrow." he responded. Sharpay checked to make sure her mother wasn't looking, then leaned over and gave the brown haired boy a quick kiss on the cheek. She blushed more intensely, then turned and ran toward the two adults. The boy smiled then, noticing his own mother, ran in the opposite direction. _'I'll see you tomorrow, Sharpay Evans.'_

Back to the present

Troy sighed. Now that this memory had come back to him, sleep was unattainable. He rolled over to his side, his hand involuntarily reaching up and touching his cheek, the same place where that little blonde girl had kissed him so many years ago. That first day... it was perfect. But thinking back on it, the second day was what had ruined it all. He had confidently entered the room, as did so many of the other students once they had realized kindergarten wasn't so bad. However, Mrs. Hill, hoping to diversify the students, had changed the seating chart for the second day. He was no longer able to sit next to the blonde haired beauty pageant girl. Instead, he ended up at a table with three other guys, the three guys that became his new best friends by the end of the day. And they had stayed his best friends ever since.

Another detail of his memory struck him, the memory of the second day's recess. He had walked outside with his new friends. Zeke had found a ball and a few other boys, and suggested a game of kickball. They had asked him to play, and he almost accepted, but not before looking behind the group of boys and seeing the girl. The blonde girl, with sad brown eyes, stood near the wall, watching his every move. Her brother stood next to her, calmer than he had been the day before, but still with a concerned look on his face. Chad turned and saw the twins, then laughed.

"You don't want to hang out with _them_, do you? If you do, you won't be cool. Cool boys aren't supposed to hang out with girls and their baby-faced brothers. Cool boys are supposed to hang out with other cool boys and do cool things, like play sports. It's your choice, Troy. You get to choose whether you want to be cool, or be a loser. So are you going to play kickball with us, or are you going to play some lame game with those babies?"

The kindergarten version of Troy thought about it, then made the worst mistake of his life. "Let's play kickball!" he yelled, and the other boys shouted in agreement as they ran as a group out to the field. He didn't dare take another look in the Evans' direction, in fear of being rejected by his new friends. He finished his kindergarten year in the same state of mind, not speaking another word to the little blonde girl until many years later.

Suddenly, the vision of swings appeared in the present Troy's mind, and he remembered his own voice saying, "I promse we'll do it again sometime, okay?" He cringed as the thought refused to leave his mind, no matter how hard he tried to remove it. He rolled over again, stealing a look at the digital clock that glowed beside his bed. _3:25 am._ Suddenly he had an idea. Jumping out of bed, he went to his closet and quickly threw on a pair of jeans and his jacket. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket as he made his way quietly out of the house. As he moved, he opened the cell phone and scrolled down his contact list until he stopped at one very important name. He hit the call button and waited for an answer.

Sharpay's ringtone jolted her out of her sleep. She sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes, and grabbed her phone off the side table. _3:27 am. TROY BOLTON._ She squinted her eyes, making sure she wasn't hallucinating. She wasn't. Troy Bolton was calling her at three in the morning, and this made her upset. _'How dare he interrupt my beauty sleep?' _She huffed angrily and opened the phone. "Troy?"

"Hey."

"What do you want?" She asked, irritated. Her eyes closed, wishing to return to her peaceful dreams.

"Listen, I've been awake all night with only one thing on my mind. This thing... it's killing me. I'll never be able to sleep until I fix it. So I need you to come meet me down at the playground."

"The _playground?_! Troy, do you have any idea what time it is? I'm _trying_ to sleep here-"

"Yeah, I know, but it's really important. Please Sharpay... I need to talk to you in person."

She sighed in exasperation. "Fine, I'll be there in a few minutes."

She closed the phone and silently snuck out of her room, not bothering to change out of her pajamas. She crept past Ryan's room, past her parents' room, then down the gold banister staircase and out the massive double doors that led to the front lawn. She walked down the street on auto pilot, her body awake but her mind still half asleep. Somehow she safely arrived at the park. Troy saw her before she saw him and rose from the bench he had been sitting on. They walked up to each other, Sharpay with an infuriated look on her face.

"Okay, I'm here. What do you want now?"

"Just... come with me." He stood behind her and held his hands over her eyes, then gave her a small shove, telling her to start moving as he led her blinded to an unknown destination. The soft grass under her feet slowly turned to harder pavement, then to a loose rocky surface. At this point, she was told to stop, and her eyes were uncovered. They widened when she saw the place Troy had taken her, for in front of her was a pair of swings, swaying gently in the light breeze.

"What is this?" she asked, her voice coming out in a soft whisper. Something was restraining her voice, as if there was a special magic covering this place that she didn't want to disturb, afraid it would disappear if she spoke too loudly.

"Sharpay, here's the thing. Gabriella asked me a question today, and after thinking about it, I couldn't sleep. I've been up all night with memories of kindergarten," he explained as she turned around to face him. "The more I thought about it, the more I thought about you, and the worse I felt about ditching you the second day for a new group of friends."

"Troy, that was eleven years ago. It's not a big deal anymore."

"No. You're wrong. It's a huge deal because that's not the kind of guy I am. It's just the guy everyone wants me to be. But now with this musical thing, I realize I don't want to be the guy that everyone else wants me to be. I only want to be the guy I really am. And the guy I really am would never treat a friend the way I treated you that year. That one day of us being best friends was the best day I ever had. I really enjoyed it. But I was too afraid of all the other kids thinking I was 'uncool,' so I forgot all about the wonderful day I spent with a wonderful girl. Until now. Now, the most important thing to me is showing you that I'm not the same shallow guy, so I'm going to do something I should have done a long time ago." His hand cupped her cheek, and before she had the chance to protest he leaned down and kissed her lips. She made no motion of escaping, because she had secretly wanted his kiss for eleven long years. It was only a simple kiss, lasting a few short seconds, but those few seconds meant more to her than the entirety of the rest of her sixteen years.

As their lips parted, his blue eyes stared into her brown ones, and he silently begged for her forgiveness for all the times he had mistreated her over the years. A small smile formed on her soft lips, telling him her forgiveness had been granted long ago. His boyish grin broke out across his face and he leaned over, his lips directly next to her ear. They opened, and he whispered one word to her. "Swing."

She knew exactly what he planned to do. Remembering every word that had been spoken on the first day of school, she slid into the swing and held onto the chains tightly. He walked behind her, firmly grasped the chains once more, pulled back, and pushed with all his strength. For he had promised to push her on the swings again, and Troy Bolton never broke his promises. He just delayed them until the time was right. As she soared through the air, twinkling stars in the sky, Twinkle Towne's song lyrics came into his head, meaning more to him now than ever. With his next push, his strong voice broke the nighttime silence. The magic Sharpay had felt earlier didn't disappear, however, from this sudden loud noise. It only grew deeper as her voice joined with his, harmonizing and creating a beautiful sound.

_We're soaring, flying_

_There's not a star in heaven that we can't reach_

_If we're trying_

_Yeah, we're breaking free_

_We're running, climbing_

_To get to the place to be all that we can be_

_Now's the time_

_So we're breaking free..._

**Sodagirl Says**: Well, there's my one shot. I thought it was cute, but that's because I wrote it. :D Please leave a review, even if it's just like, "Good Job" or something like that. And if you decide to be mean and not leave a review (just kidding, you're still nice if you don't, but you're more appreciated if you do), thanks for reading anyways! 3 hotsodagirl


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